So my GS350 blew its engine last night...
10-14-12, 09:48 PM
#1
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
So my GS350 blew its engine last night...
Ahhhhh...
The fun with my car continues. We still have the intermittent trans slip, rattling sunroof, and mirrors that are possessed.
But... Now we have a blown engine! Here's the background, I had the valve springs done, car ran ok. Then I had the VVT-I actuator fix done after much fighting with the dealer. After that I noticed low power and lousy gas mileage, I went from getting 26+ on the highway to 23, maybe 24 and the power was down. I complained several times and was told that the campaign caused this and there was nothing that was wrong with the car. Twice I took it back to the dealer and twice I was told it was all in my head.
Schmucks.
So the plan has been, mainly since Lexus NA has blown me off until just last night, to sell or trade it in on probably a Cadillac XTS or maybe just get rid of it as I don't really need it, I have too many cars as it is and I usually drive my antiques unless there's salt on the roads.
So yesterday morning me and a couple of my friends left north jersey at 3:30 am to go to The huge car show in Hershey, PA. The show was awesome buti noticed that the car was struggling to break 22mpg on the trip and averaging 21.7 while cruising at 70-75. I figured it was the extra passengers.
On the way home, just east of Allentown I started hearing a rattling come from under the hood, almost like a squeaky belt. I saw a sign for an exit in 2 miles and figured I'd pull over and check it out. I did check the oil just before the trip and it was fine.
Not 10 seconds later the car started to lose power, the check engine light started flashing, the TRAC and VSC lights came on, the dash said to check TRAC and the car died.
Crap. I pulled over and smoke was pouring from under the hood. The car wasn't overheating either. I tried restarting it and the engine sounded as if it had no compression.
Long story short but AAA and another roadside were useless, I couldn't get the car towed back to a dealer in Jersey and the car, after over 4 hours on the side of I-78 is now outside the gate at Lexus of the Lehigh Valley in Allentown, PA. My best friend drove 110 miles out to pick us up and got us home.
While waiting I sent a frustrated email to, what I can only say is the right person at Lexus, and got a call from the cell phone of someone rather higher up in the food chain. I'm told that this will be handled and they will make it right. Lets see what Lexus of the Lehigh Valley has to say... Their dealerrater.com reviews weren't encouraging but who knows...
Thankfully the car is still under power train warranty....
And to top it all off? I had tickets to the Yankee game that night
The fun with my car continues. We still have the intermittent trans slip, rattling sunroof, and mirrors that are possessed.
But... Now we have a blown engine! Here's the background, I had the valve springs done, car ran ok. Then I had the VVT-I actuator fix done after much fighting with the dealer. After that I noticed low power and lousy gas mileage, I went from getting 26+ on the highway to 23, maybe 24 and the power was down. I complained several times and was told that the campaign caused this and there was nothing that was wrong with the car. Twice I took it back to the dealer and twice I was told it was all in my head.
Schmucks.
So the plan has been, mainly since Lexus NA has blown me off until just last night, to sell or trade it in on probably a Cadillac XTS or maybe just get rid of it as I don't really need it, I have too many cars as it is and I usually drive my antiques unless there's salt on the roads.
So yesterday morning me and a couple of my friends left north jersey at 3:30 am to go to The huge car show in Hershey, PA. The show was awesome buti noticed that the car was struggling to break 22mpg on the trip and averaging 21.7 while cruising at 70-75. I figured it was the extra passengers.
On the way home, just east of Allentown I started hearing a rattling come from under the hood, almost like a squeaky belt. I saw a sign for an exit in 2 miles and figured I'd pull over and check it out. I did check the oil just before the trip and it was fine.
Not 10 seconds later the car started to lose power, the check engine light started flashing, the TRAC and VSC lights came on, the dash said to check TRAC and the car died.
Crap. I pulled over and smoke was pouring from under the hood. The car wasn't overheating either. I tried restarting it and the engine sounded as if it had no compression.
Long story short but AAA and another roadside were useless, I couldn't get the car towed back to a dealer in Jersey and the car, after over 4 hours on the side of I-78 is now outside the gate at Lexus of the Lehigh Valley in Allentown, PA. My best friend drove 110 miles out to pick us up and got us home.
While waiting I sent a frustrated email to, what I can only say is the right person at Lexus, and got a call from the cell phone of someone rather higher up in the food chain. I'm told that this will be handled and they will make it right. Lets see what Lexus of the Lehigh Valley has to say... Their dealerrater.com reviews weren't encouraging but who knows...
Thankfully the car is still under power train warranty....
And to top it all off? I had tickets to the Yankee game that night
10-15-12, 05:26 AM
#3
What a saga - maybe if this person was involved previously, you'd not have been stood at the side of the road last night?
Interested in seeing what the cause was, and how Lexus handle this given you've raised concerns about the engine after the actuators were done.
Has there been any discussion about the transmission issue?
Have you pointed him/her to this forum, and your threads documenting the issues and concerns?
Interested in seeing what the cause was, and how Lexus handle this given you've raised concerns about the engine after the actuators were done.
Has there been any discussion about the transmission issue?
Have you pointed him/her to this forum, and your threads documenting the issues and concerns?
10-15-12, 09:18 AM
#4
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Nope,
Haven't gone that far yet but I did explain the issues that I have had. This car is why I don't own a 4th gen GS, the plan was to pick this car up as a stopgap, but its been so troublesome and until now my experience with Lexus has been so bad that I was planning on going away from Lexus. We shall see what happens......
Update, Lexus of the Lehigh Valley just called. The lady there was very nice, I left my keys to my Ford and my old 740iL in the car, she found them and is overnighting them to me. Which is good as I'm driving my 60 Lincoln today... Without working wipers!
So from what they can tell the water pump died, the engine overheated badly and has internal damage. Had the car showed signs of overheating this would make sense, but it was running fine and there were no low coolant or overheat signs and the temp gauge was normal.
So we shall see......
Haven't gone that far yet but I did explain the issues that I have had. This car is why I don't own a 4th gen GS, the plan was to pick this car up as a stopgap, but its been so troublesome and until now my experience with Lexus has been so bad that I was planning on going away from Lexus. We shall see what happens......
Update, Lexus of the Lehigh Valley just called. The lady there was very nice, I left my keys to my Ford and my old 740iL in the car, she found them and is overnighting them to me. Which is good as I'm driving my 60 Lincoln today... Without working wipers!
So from what they can tell the water pump died, the engine overheated badly and has internal damage. Had the car showed signs of overheating this would make sense, but it was running fine and there were no low coolant or overheat signs and the temp gauge was normal.
So we shall see......
10-15-12, 12:01 PM
#6
Uh oh I wonder if they will try to avoid responsibilty by saying the failure is due to a normal wear and tear item. When I was driving a the 1st GS, almost the exact same thing happened. The car did overheat though, but they ended up rebuilding the engine on good will. They wanted to replace the plugs in the process so I let them even though it was very expensive. I thought I would let the recoup some of their costs. So you may want to do the same since they already have the engine taken apart.
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10-15-12, 12:59 PM
#8
Shouldn't you have had the battery light lit up (alternator not charging dummy light) for quite a while before you would completely run out of power?
10-15-12, 01:22 PM
#9
Lexus Champion
^ no, there were no light. That surprises me too, I agree with you it should have light up the battery light. Beep warning went off and EVERYTHING light up. I had no clue what the beep meant. I tried to crawl home but didn't nearly made it. Put in a full charge battery and I was able to drive it all the way home which is about 15 to 20 miles away.
anyway, my car is back in business and it's working great.
anyway, my car is back in business and it's working great.
10-15-12, 04:48 PM
#10
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Well.. I've been in touch with some wonderful folks from Lexus.
To be honest, right now I'm absolutely stumped and so is the gentleman from Lexus that I just got off the phone with. The car has 73k on it and the valve spring recall and VVT-I actuator updates have been done.
Oil was changed about 3,500 ago.. And I usually change it around 3,500-4k.
I will say this, if nothing else the guys @ Lexus in California have been great, as of now my faith has been restored in the brand. I've been very critical of them in the past but they're going we'll above and beyond to make me happy.
To be honest, right now I'm absolutely stumped and so is the gentleman from Lexus that I just got off the phone with. The car has 73k on it and the valve spring recall and VVT-I actuator updates have been done.
Oil was changed about 3,500 ago.. And I usually change it around 3,500-4k.
I will say this, if nothing else the guys @ Lexus in California have been great, as of now my faith has been restored in the brand. I've been very critical of them in the past but they're going we'll above and beyond to make me happy.
10-16-12, 11:00 AM
#15
Lexus Champion
keep us posted. I'm curious what could be wrong with your car.
The main reason I bought this car is it's reliability. Less time in dealer and fix. I want to drive my car, not a loaner or spend time sitting in their lounge. It's nice that Lexus lounge have wifi and pc and coffee/coco/etc for you to enjoy. but still, I want to go on my business.
The main reason I bought this car is it's reliability. Less time in dealer and fix. I want to drive my car, not a loaner or spend time sitting in their lounge. It's nice that Lexus lounge have wifi and pc and coffee/coco/etc for you to enjoy. but still, I want to go on my business.